where were the safety champions
Others share the responsibility, but at significant times the captain must rise to the occasion by all means at his disposal. Exactly when is that?
The answer is, whenever it is obvious that others are not.
I'm not referring to compliance with regulations or getting a good night's sleep before a long flight duty. The captain is compelled to do that and it is generally reasonable to assume that these type of things are not normally a problem.
I am referring to responsibility during stressful or unusual circumstances. It is an extraordinary circumstance when repetitive flight control malfunctions cause multiple taxi back or unreasonably divert attention in flight. Exactly like the situation that existed for months on this aircraft.
Apparently no pilot sufficiently pressured the company to fix this problem when it became more obvious. If this is so, the question is, "can pilots in this airline ever confirm their authority and take an increasingly appropriate share of the responsibility?"
There are also other fatal hull losses that could have been prevented but for the absence of pilot fortitude before departure.
Another classic will be MH17, downed by a BUK missile. It was already known that an AN-26 had been downed by a BUK in that area. When I heard that 3 days later a B777 had been shot down, I was amazed that MH17 would plan over Ukraine, since a BUK has a capability in excess of B777 max altitude.
Korean, Asiana, BA and some others avoided the area.
Aeroflot, Singapore, Lufthansa, and others, continued planning via Ukraine. What were these airlines and their captains thinking?
Where were MH17 safety champions? Same place as QZ8501, nowhere.